Press Release, 17.03.2022

Photo: Yelena Izotova and Gulnaz Ravilova / Photo from social networks

Today, the police came with searches to the activists of Yabloko in Tatarstan, Yelena Izotova and Gulnaz Ravilova, as well as to Ruslan Zinatullin, Chairman of the Yabloko branch in Tatarstan.

Searches at the home of Gulnaz Ravilova, a Yabloko activist and ex-candidate for deputy of the State Duma, are taking place as part of an investigation into the case of calls for mass riots. In September 2021, the court found Gulnaz Ravilova involved in the activities of an “extremist organization’ – Alexei Navalny’s headquarters, although in reality she had nothing to do with them. Then the persecution was aiming at depriving the Yabloko candidate of the passive suffrage.

This morning, the police began breaking the door to the flat of Gulnaz Ravilova. During the search, a computer system unit, telephone, banking cards and political  emblems were seized. As Ravilova told journalists who managed to contact her, she was in the status of a witness. There is no contact with her now.

So far, it has been impossible to get in touch with activist Yelena Izotova and Ruslan Zinatullin, Chairman of Yabloko in Tatarstan. At the time the security forces appeared, Zinatullin was not at home. Neighbours said that the police officers were looking for him.

Both Zinatullin and Izotova were also denied their right to run as Yabloko candidates in the State Duma elections in 2021.

Update. 17 March, 13:20. The flat of the chairman of the Tatarstan Yabloko Ruslan Zinatullin was also searched. The search is connected with the criminal case on incitement to riots. The status of Zinatullin in this case is still unknown. The police confiscated his phones and banking cards.

It should be noted that on 13 March, a search took place at the home of Tatyana Sporysheva, a supporter of the Yabloko party, she is a witness in the case of the rehabilitation of Nazism because of a post in the Telegram channel of journalist Sergei Reznik. The police also visited activist and video blogger Pavel Sychev in Voronezh, who did not open the door to them.